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White House Urged Democratic Senators to Reject Blocking Arms Transfers to Israel
(Times of Israel) Jacob Magid - The Biden administration lobbied Democratic senators to vote against legislation that would block more than $20 billion in weapon shipments to Israel, two U.S. officials said Tuesday. The resolutions, defeated in a vote on Wednesday, would have blocked the transfer of guided missiles, tank rounds, mortars, tactical vehicles and F-15 fighter jets. The Biden administration's decision to engage on the matter demonstrates its desire for the Democratic Party to maintain a pro-Israel posture post-election. Biden aides have argued that the weapons in question are essential for Israel's defense and won't be delivered for another year or two, "so the likelihood of them being used in this iteration of the Gaza context is very low," explained one U.S. official. "Now is not the time to send a message to Israel's adversaries that there is a break in the relationship between the United States and Israel," the official said. "It actually only encourages Israel's adversaries to be more obstinate and sends a terrible message to Iran." He rejected arguments from some Democratic senators who backed the legislation while saying they still support sending defensive weapons to Israel. "That is a false concept. You can't retrieve hostages or get to a rocket launcher with an Iron Dome [defensive] missile."